The Red Roses welcomed their most recent debutant to their ranks this past Saturday, as back row battler Georgia Brock was awarded her first cap for her country. Brock was awarded the last 10 minutes of the clash with the Black Ferns, as the Allianz Stadium erupted in support for the Gloucester-Hartpury star.
For a stand alone exhibition Test match, the stage could not get much brighter for Brock to make her England debut. The fixture was by no means a done deal, with England defending repeated waves of New Zealand attacks, as the Black Ferns tried to forge a dramatic late comeback.
Brock was introduced in place of her captain Marlie Packer, and picked up from where the hard-hitting flanker left off. Making the most of every minute, Brock was praised by her vice-captain Zoe Aldcroft, for bringing that ‘dog’ to the final stages of the fight in South West London’s colosseum.
“It was super exciting when she took the field. Aldcroft said in the post-match press conference. I think she really stepped up and took it really well. She always brings that little bit of dog about her, she always works hard, and I think she really brought that for a first cap.”
Brock was presented with her first piece of England embroidered headwear after the game, with her Gloucester-Hartpury teammates Aldcroft and Natasha Hunt leading the presentation ceremony. Once again, Brock’s mantra of being a tough as nails hard worker was showcased in the pre-presentation speech, that was later posted across the Red Roses official social media platforms.
Turning her attention towards the match as a whole, Aldcroft explained how the Red Roses were met with what they were expecting from the Black Ferns last Saturday. Whilst the New Zealanders often get plenty of praise for how quickly they move the ball in attacking positions, Aldcroft highlighted the physicality of the Black Ferns, and how her own Red Roses pack combated the attrition.
“I think we were expecting that. We definitely got it, it was very physical out there.”
“As a forward pack, we like to assert our dominance. If we get that right, then it allows our backs to play. So it’s really important that we take the legs from the opposite forwards and and take their balls in the air (line-out) as well defensively.
“I think we put a pretty good effort in today. It’s really important that we get that right and we dominate as a forwards pack.”
Aldcroft echoed the thoughts of her Red Roses head coach John Mitchell, in how England took their ‘foot off the throats’, and let the Black Ferns back into the game. Mitchell was pleased by the victory against the reigning world champions, but emphasised the need for an extra ruthlessness to see out the wins against the toughest opponents.
England were 24-0 up after 41 minutes, as the Allianz faithful enjoyed three unanswered first half tries and a score straight from the re-start through Natasha Hunt. However, instead of piling on the pressure for a record win, England let the Black Ferns ‘off the hook’ in Mitchell’s eyes, with wing Katelyn Vahaakolo scoring back-to-back tries in the later stages.
“Hopefully we’ll learn from what, what happened out there today.” Aldcroft added. “In the second half, I think we can be a lot more dominant, like Mitch (John Mitchell) said, put them to bed a lot quicker. So hopefully we’ll build on that going into WXV.”
Aldcroft and her England teammates now turn their attention to WXV, with the Red Roses heading out to Canada at the end of September. England are set for an opening Test with the United States, before getting the opportunity for a third consecutive win against New Zealand, when they come up against the Black Ferns on October 6th. England round off their tournament against Canada, as they take on arguably the world’s best back row Sophie de Goede.